VIEWS From Drake’s Huge First Week

Exactly one week ago, Drake released his newest album VIEWS to the world. Now he’s not only getting a lot of radio play from the new songs, but he’s also about to get a nice pay-day.

After a full seven days have passed, Drake finds himself shattering all sorts of records. According to HitsDailyDouble, VIEWS has amassed over 300 million streams in the U.S. and even more globally. What is more intriguing is that these numbers are solely from Apple Music, as the album was exclusive to their service for the opening week, with the only purchases made through the iTunes Store.

Early reports had stated that Drake was about to push some crazy numbers with this release. Crazy may have been an understatement.

These streams broke the record just recently set by Beyonce with Lemonade, who had 115 million streams in the first week of availability.

Drake’s label reported that the album has sold 1.2 million copies in the first six days of availability, with over 1 million of those sales coming from the U.S.

Drake may not have been so lucky if he didn’t include his huge 2015 song “Hotling Bling,” as the album’s only bonus track. He’d still have a huge first week, but thanks to the song’s combined 1.1 billion YouTube and Spotify streams and the new Record Industry standards, these numbers contribute to VIEWS‘ huge opening week.

Today, the physical version of the album was shipped to retailers so you can get yourself a tangible copy of the 6 God’s fourth album. Be aware though, people with the physical copy are claiming that the track “Feel No Ways,” is a clean version and is the only censored song on the album. VIEWS is also available on other online retailers but won’t reach Spotify and other streaming services until May 13.

Selling 1.2 million copies of an album in one week is huge, especially in the hip-hop lane. If the 1.2 million sales is the final number, this album will truly be monumental for hip-hop.

These sales will push Drake into the third spot on the list for highest first week sales for a rap album. In case you were wondering, Eminem holds both the first and second spot, with 1.7 million and 1.3 million first week sales for The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show.

Definitely not a bad opening week. We tip are hats to ya, Drake for a wildly successful release of VIEWS. When’s the next one coming out?